Buck: Cause what had Verhoeven done by that
point, had he done anything in America?

Kurtwood: No, he had only done foreign films
The script read like a “B” movie. It wasn’t until I got the job, and
I was just happy to have a job, I read for Clarence and Dick Jones, the
part that Ronnie Cox played.

Dan: Both villains right?

Kurtwood: Yeah. And then when Belle (his
agent) called and said we got an offer from Robocop, I assumed it was for
Dick Jones, cause that was more the kind of part I played and she said no
its for Clarence. (his eyes get big) Just because he wasn’t exactly the
way he ended up being. We made him funnier than he was initially in the
script. A lot of the one liners I made up as we went along.

Buck: Oh cool, spot on.

Kurtwood: Not all of them but some of them.
That character really grew in the filming process. I was really happy to
do that part. They didn’t pay me…. It was like TV money. But I
didn’t care cause it was a fun part and then I found out who Verhoeven
was after I accepted the part and was going to have lunch with him. I
asked Belle to find out what he had done and rented three of his movies
and went WHOA! This is gonna be an interesting movie. I could tell while
we were doing it and by watching the dailies that it was going to be a
good action film, was pretty sure it would be a successful film, but I
didn’t really know how interesting a movie it was because I didn’t see
the other parts being shot. I didn’t realize the sense of humor of the
film until it was all put together. And also a lot of the stuff Peter did
made it deeper film then the comic book that it read as.

Dan: Were these earlier films that he did in
Europe, were they along the same line? Were they violent?

Kurtwood: The violence was there yeah. They
are very different. The Fourth Man was very dark. Creepy. Dark Quite good.

Buck: I think it’s the one that most people
talk about in the European stuff.

Kurtwood: Soldier of Orange and Spetters both
have Rutger Hauer, but The Fourth Man is Jereon Krabbe .

Buck: What’s Verhoeven like to work with?

Kurtwood: He’s demanding…but he’s only
demanding what he should be getting.

Buck: So he knows what he wants…

Kurtwood: (Through a smile) Yeah he knows what
he wants. He didn’t always express it in the right way.

Buck: Was there a language barrier at that
point?

Kurtwood: Sure, not finding the right words at
times. Basically I had no problems with Paul. His problems were with crew
people. Things not being ready. And so he wouldn’t always deal with it
in the right way and would scream and yell. But it was always about the
stuff, it wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about him being powerful. Ya
know? He was working on a very limited budget and had less time than he needed.

Buck: Do you remember what the budget was on
it?

Kurtwood: I think it was like $11 (million)
and went to $13.

Buck: It’s amazing. When you think about it.

Kurtwood: Nothing. Not even close to John
Travolta’s salary.

Dan: When you guys were making it were you
aware of the level of violence in it?

Kurtwood: When we looked at the dailies we
said “Whew!”

Buck: A lot of red.

Kurtwood: (nods) Well I remember shooting the
scene where we kill him (Robocop) and it went on and on all day. The rest
of the stuff we knew it was going to be violent.